BENSON, N.C. -- Moroso Pro Boost No. 1 qualifier Tommy D'Aprile charged to his second win of the season Saturday
night at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Drag Wars at GALOT Motorsports Park.
D'Aprile used a slight holeshot advantage to hold off Marc Caruso in a race determined by just 13
thousandths of a second.

The No. 1 qualifiers in three of the other professional classes also swept the weekend, as Tommy
Franklin (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC), Ronnie Smith (Drag 965 Pro Extreme
Motorcycle) and Johnny Pluchino (East Side Auto Transport Pro Outlaw 632) also won. Contrarily,
Jeff Dobbins won from the No. 16 spot in Liberty's Gears Extreme Pro Stock.

The PDRA Drag Wars trophies in the sportsman classes went to Aaron Glaser in MagnaFuel Elite Top
Sportsman, Ed Foley in Top Sportsman 32, Tom Martino in Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster, and Johnny
Grubb in Top Dragster 32. Tim Williams in his '17 Race Tech dragster defeated Benson's own William
Roberts in his '94 Mustang in the Edelbrock Bracket Bash final round.

Coolshirt Pro Jr. Dragster low qualifier Kimberley Messer earned the win over Thomas Davis when she
ran a 7.908-second pass on a 7.90 dial-in next to Davis' breakout 7.894. Cody Sims broke out in the
Gilbert Motorsports Top Jr. Dragster final round, but opponent Mallory Logan's red light guaranteed
Sims the win at the starting line.

D'Aprile (near lane) over Caruso

PRO BOOST
A black '69 Camaro with a Noonan engine and Al Billes supercharger was guaranteed the Pro Boost win
going into the final round, as near-teammates Tommy D'Aprile and Marc "the Rodfather" Caruso were
set to square off for the trophy. It ended up being the closest race of the day, with D'Aprile
leading out of the gate with his .007 reaction time and holding on through the eighth-mile stripe
with a 3.765 at 199.75. No slouch with a .025 light, Caruso came up just 13 thousandths of a second
short with his 3.76 at 197.39.

"When you're the No. 1 qualifier, it seems like it's tough to win, too," D'Aprile said. "I'm just
blessed to be a part of this team. I'm dedicating this win to my dad's 80th birthday (on Friday).
He's someone who allowed me to start racing, so it's special for me to win this for him and to win
with these guys and win that final the way we did. That was a close one."

D'Aprile and the Billes-owned-and-tuned '69 Camaro were equally quick in earlier elimination
rounds, running 3.805 over Larry Higginbotham and 3.767 over Ric Fleck, both with superior reaction
times. Caruso in his Caruso Family Racing '69 Camaro took down heavy hitters Jerico Balduf and John
Strickland before facing D'Aprile, now a two-time winner this season.

Franklin (near lane) over Harris

PRO NITROUS
Two-time and defending Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin began his late-season charge for a
third consecutive title when he took down points leader Jason Harris in the final round. Harris
left the starting line first in his Musi-powered "Party Time" '69 Camaro, but Franklin drove around
his 3.826 at 199.29 with a weekend-best 3.709 at 202.06. It was Franklin's first win of the season
and his first win in his new Bickel-built, Musi-powered '69 Camaro.

"We're chasin' Jason," Franklin said. "He's got a good lead out on us and we needed him to go out
earlier, but he's a strong competitor and he's really running good. We picked up a round and closed
that gap a little bit. We're going to stay after it these next two races. All we can do is try to
win them both and let the rest of the cards fall as they may."

Franklin moved past the first round with a 3.828 over Tyler Jenkins, who was uninjured after
impacting both retaining walls. The Fredericksburg, Virginia, native improved to a 3.742 over John
Camp and a 3.731 over Randy Weatherford. Harris qualified No. 3 and similarly improved consistently
in victories over Ed Burnley, Tommy Mauney and Lizzy Musi.

Dobbins (near lane) over Boone

EXTREME PRO STOCK
Jeff Dobbins went to bed Friday night unsure of his ability to go rounds after qualifying on the
bump spot in his Bears Performance/Curacao '14 Dodge Avenger. A holeshot win in the opening round,
coupled with quick reaction times and a deadly-consistent car, was all Dobbins needed to change his
attitude. By the final round, Dobbins was really on his game with a 4.10 at 176.19 to claim the win
over Steven Boone and his 4.124 at 174.26 in the Boone Motorsports '07 Chevy Cobalt.

"This win is special coming from the 16th hole - that's hard to do," Dobbins said. "We're a good
team, but we just struggled all year. We just stuck together. Yesterday, we weren't feeling good
about our chances. We woke up this morning and came out swinging. We knew we had a good car and a
good team, we just had to get it done."

Dobbins used a pair of 4.12s to move past John DeFlorian Jr. and Rick Cowger in the first two
rounds. He ran 4.116 next to a red-lighting Trevor Eman and the http://Aruba.com Mustang in a
"battle of the Caribbean" in the semifinals. Boone, who won his first PDRA win earlier this season,
beat Matt Giangrande, Chris Powers and 2016 world champion John Pluchino en route to the final.

Smith (near lane) over Garner-Jones

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
Ronnie "Pro Mod" Smith went wire-to-wire to enjoy his career-best weekend in the PDRA's Pro Extreme
Motorcycle class riding his Innovative Performance '16 Suzuki to progressively quicker passes from
the No. 1 spot. Smith's final shot was a 3.997 at 175.59 over Chris Garner-Jones and his 4.08 at
173.83.

"We've worked hard all year," said Smith, a first-time winner. "We've came so close, broke a
record, and we've just been chasing this win all year. It's just the total package we have in this
bike. It's been on a string all weekend."

Smith, the points leader, ran a 4.059 over Terry Wynn in the first round, then a 4.027 at 175.66 to
hold off No. 2 in points, Terry Schweigert, in the second round. He then took advantage of a
competition bye run in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Garner-Jones defeated T.T. Jones, Ehren Litten
and Brunson Grothus.

Pluchino (far lane) over Voss

PRO OUTLAW 632
Pro Outlaw 632 points leader Johnny Pluchino didn't let the pressure of a final-round match with
defending world champion Dillon Voss get to him. In fact, he fed off the pressure, just as he did
all day, unleashing a 4.251 at 167.38 to drive Dominic Addeo's '06 Ford Escort around the .003
reaction time and 4.298-second pass of Voss in his Voss Racing Engines '17 Corvette.

"I saw a whole lot of Voss' car in the final round," Pluchino said. "I think I got close to the
centerline because I was looking at him so much, but we were able to get around him. I've been
trying to get around him for a while now. He's been a thorn in my side, so we're excited to pull
off the win. We've got a lot of momentum going into these last two races."

Pluchino kicked off eliminations with a 4.277 on an earned bye run, then improved to run 4.247 over
Tony Gillig and a 4.233 over Jeff Ensslin. Voss, who maintained his spot directly behind Pluchino
in the points, raced around Alonzo Williams, Jeremy Huffman and Jordan Ensslin before the final
round.

Glaser (near lane) over Moore

TOP SPORTSMAN
Aaron Glaser successfully defended his 2017 Drag Wars victory in Elite Top Sportsman when his
Albert-powered Glaser Collision '68 Firebird ran a 4.064 on a 4.06 dial-in over Scott Moore's 4.143
on a 4.10 dial-in in his PAR-powered '08 Mustang. Glaser previously defeated No. 1 qualifier and
engine builder Billy Albert, Henry Underwood and Cam Clark before the final round.

"Crazy" Ed Foley notched the Top Sportsman 32 win in his Ford-powered '12 Mustang, running a 4.394
on a 4.39 dial-in next to points leader Dennis Gaboriault, who ran 4.199 to break out on his 4.20
dial-in.

Martino (far lane) over Whitlock

TOP DRAGSTER
It was a battle of North vs. South in the Elite Top Dragster final round, as Tom Martino drove his
Youngstown, Ohio-based "Sharktino" dragster to a 4.097 on a 4.08 dial-in, while Mocksville, North
Carolina's Russ Whitlock broke out with a 4.216 on his 4.22 dial. Martino defeated Alan O'Brien,
Camrie Caruso and Kyle Harris on his way to the final round.

In Top Dragster 32, Johnny Grub used a superior reaction time and 4.847 on a 4.83 dial-in to
overcome the dead-on 4.500 of Chad Traylor.

The PDRA 2018 Tour will continue next month at the PDRA Fall Nationals, Oct. 4-6, at Darlington
Dragway in Hartsville, South Carolina.